Upcoming Trends: Highlights From The Winter Show SFA News Live Interviews

Upcoming Trends: Highlights From The Winter Show SFA News Live Interviews

Denise Purcell

At each Fancy Food Show, the Specialty Food Association hosts talk-show–style interviews with industry trailblazers, icons, disruptors, and other experts on our Specialty Food News Live platform. The segments run on specialtyfood.com as well as social media, and are available after the shows here.

Topics range from new retail and foodservice models to food tech to regulatory changes. Here are some quotes from our most recent batch of interviews that point to industry trends.

“We’re going to see a massive transformation in retail stores whether it’s new, less traditional space like Pop Up Grocer or airports revamping or retailers like Lululemon offering meditation rooms and cafes. It’s the big game changer right now.”—Natalie Shmulik of Chicago food incubator The Hatchery on upcoming retail trends

“Fast-fine is a niche of the fast-casual space that brings in the service standards of a full-service restaurant but still gives you flexibility. We bring together quality, consistency, and value with approachability so we look, feel, and act like a full-service restaurant but at a price point that allows you to eat there several days a week.”—Charles Bililies, owner of Souvla, a San Francisco-based six-location Greek restaurant chain, on the fast-fine dining trend

“There will be a lot going on in food-based diet and nutrition around [individuals'] DNA—super personalization. Right now, it’s a buzzword and few are doing it yet but it’s starting to come based on technology.”—Courtney Reum, M13, on the next health and wellness-focused trend

“Our fastest growing segment is retail, whether it’s a traditional restaurant with a grab-and-go line or an ecommerce player doing direct-to-consumer subscription delivery. Grocery is also a pretty quickly growing segment.”—Megan Mokri, Byte Technology, on small-footprint, unattended kiosks that sell foods and beverages everywhere from workplaces to hotels to airports

“We’re going to see more and more aquaculture companies growing fish on land or in our waterways in the United States. Lots of very sustainable, local farms are going to be coming online. We’ll see a number of exciting species from river and steelhead trout from Idaho to Atlantic Sapphire in Florida raising salmon.”—Jennifer Bushman, Route to Market, on emerging aquaculture trends